


Sticks and Stones (Still Make a Good Home)

by giraffewrites



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 90s, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Family Feels, M/M, Max is young, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 10:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21014297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giraffewrites/pseuds/giraffewrites
Summary: Almost a year after Hopper and a social worker turned up to their door with Max, crowning Billy as her legal guardian, life's gotten a bit easier.





	Sticks and Stones (Still Make a Good Home)

**Author's Note:**

> Oneshot based off an idea I have for a longer piece I may write!
> 
> Max's background isn't delved into in this piece, although it'll certainly be explored if I write the longer piece. In this fic she's six, pushing seven. Past abuse towards her is visible if you squint, but it's pretty subtle.

The smell of Chinese food as Billy enters the apartment is almost distracting enough for him to forget the aches and pains in his body. With the door shut he ventures into the kitchen, finding Steve and Max. Steve’s stood unpacking the remainders of the two take out bag, food already out, some of it subject to Max’s inability to wait until they take it to the table.

When Max’s eyes clock onto Billy, she offers him a smile but doesn’t speak, too invested in the bag of prawn crackers she’s ripped open.

As always, the amount of food Steve’s ordered is too much. Max is a picky eater, Steve himself doesn’t have a huge appetite, and Billy’s more the sort to pick throughout the day rather than sit down for three decent meals. What they don’t eat will either be thrown out or snagged as breakfast when tomorrow Steve, like every morning, is running late to work.

“Hey,” Steve greets him with, accompanying it with a kiss to the cheek. “How was work?”

“Same old.” Billy gets the plates out of the cupboard, pushing the two white ones to the side and starting to fill the plastic one. “Max, do you want the chicken or beef?”

She scrunches her face up at either option. “Rice.”

“You know the rules,” Billy reminds her. “You can’t just eat rice and prawn crackers.”

“But the beef is too tough,” she whines, folding her arms over her chest.

“Chicken it is.”

“Did Dan drop off his pick-up truck?” Steve asks as Billy puts food onto Max’s plate, making sure the sauce doesn’t run into the rice.

“Every Friday without fail,” Billy replies, helping Max off the counter. “One day we might find something wrong with it.”

“Not today?”

Billy chuckles, opening the drawer to get the Looney Toons knife and fork out, “Not today.”

The table’s positioned awkwardly. Before Max, they didn’t even have a table. They’d eat in front of the TV, plates held to their faces so they didn’t drop anything. The apartment is small, if it wasn’t for Robin, they’d have never known how to angle the table. One side is pressed against the wall, and Steve’s stuffed between another wall and the table, Billy’s chair barely having enough room to move without hitting the back of the couch. Max’s chair is free of any walls, but would be in danger if someone was to swing her bedroom door open.

“I didn’t ask,” Billy speaks after a mouthful, “how was work for you?”

Steve shrugs. “Cancelation in the afternoon, so John was pi- annoyed,” he says, smiling at Max when she giggles at his almost swear word, “quiet morning, too. Drew some designs, got some coffee, and that’s about it.”

“The cancelation, was it the cover-up or the guy who wanted his back tattooed?”

“Cover-up. John thinks he went to the place up the road instead, cheaper.”

“Isn’t that the one that nearly got shut down for unhygienic practice?”

Before Steve can answer, Max’s voice cuts into the conversation. “What’s that mean?”

“It means they were too dirty,” Billy explains, moving her hair out of her face.

“What’s the opposite of it?”

“Unhygienic?” He asks, getting a nod in response. “That’s hygienic.”

Max uses her forefinger to push rice onto her fork. “Does that mean too clean?”

“Not too clean. Hygienic means clean, unhygienic means dirty, or not clean enough.”

“Ahh.”

The rest of dinner unfolds with Steve and Billy doing the majority of talking, Max asking questions here and there, most interested in the dog someone brought into Billy’s work and if Heather found her earring after realising she lost it whilst having lunch with Steve.

The kitchen is a mess when Billy takes their plates in, taking it upon himself to tidy up. He puts the remainders of food in plastic containers and throws the rubbish out, writing on the board on the fridge to take the bin out in the morning. The sound of the shower running can be heard as Billy puts the plates and cutlery in the sink, head turning when he hears footsteps from behind him.

Max has swapped her shoes for Billy’s slippers, enjoying the sound they make when the heel slaps against the floor.

“Don’t fall in them,” Billy warns. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

Max doesn’t bother replying to him, but does keep him company as he finishes up cleaning, stomping her feet around with amusement.

Billy swaps places with Steve when he’s had a shower, Billy stepping in and Steve entertaining Max. The water’s boiling, helping him to relax and untense. He regrets stepping out of the shower the moment he does, but wraps a towel around his torso and heads to the bedroom nonetheless.

As it’s Friday, it’s Max’s turn to pick what film they watch. Friday and Saturday’s are the only nights she’s allowed to stay up past her normal bed time (seven thirty), but will fall asleep early anyway (usually around half eight). Unlike El, Hopper’s kid, or Katie (Heather’s cousin), Max doesn’t have much interest in Disney princesses. They’d picked up a second hand video collection for her shortly after she moved in, but she much prefer Steve’s copy of Jurassic Park.

Tonight’s pick is Labyrinth.

The last time she wanted to watch it, she’d hated the goblins and insisted to turn it off.

“Are you sure?” Steve asks, crouched down in front of the TV.

Max nods, not saying a word as she folds her legs up and leans into Billy.

“All right,” Steve sighs, popping the video in. He sits on her other side, moving his arm to the back of the couch so he can rest his hand on Billy’s shoulder.

In fairness to her, she makes it through longer than last time, falling asleep when Sarah arrives at the talking doors. Billy picks her up carefully, his slippers falling onto the rug under the coffee table. He slips his feet into them before taking her to her room.

The room had been their spare room before it turned into a bedroom. The walls are still in need of being painted and some of their possessions are stored at the top of the wardrobe, away from curious eyes and small hands.

As Billy’s laying her in bed, tucking her beloved white rabbit under her arm, Steve joins them. He flicks the nightlight next to her bed on, kneeling on the floor near the bedside table that doubles up as a bookcase.

“Think she’ll sleep through the night?”

“With any luck,” Billy says, voice as soft and quiet as Steve’s. He moves the duvets up to her armpits.

“Robin said she’d had a good day when I picked her up,” Steve mentions. “I think she’ll miss seeing her.”

In the first few months of Max being in their care, Steve and Billy had taken time off work to ensure Max was never without one of them. However, Steve got offered a position as a full time tattooist instead of part time, and Don, Billy’s boss, had never been the most understanding of people. Billy had thought he’d have to find a different job until Robin, the only person Max got on with at the time other than Steve and Billy, offered to help out.

“Yeah, they get on well.” Billy pushes himself up, offering Steve a hand. He turns his head to Max’s door, seeing the blue backpack and matching raincoat. He sighs, “I still don’t know if she’s ready.”

“She’ll be all right,” Steve insists, wrapping an arm around Billy’s waist to guide him out of the room. Max’s door stays mostly open. Now in the lounge, he speaks louder, “The teachers know what to do if she starts panicking, she’ll be okay.”

“How many times has a teacher actually followed through on what they’re meant to do?” Billy questions, sitting on the arm of the chair. His shoulders don’t untense when Steve puts his hands on them.

“She’ll be okay,” Steve insists, leaning down to kiss him. “We’ll drop her off, make sure she’s feeling okay, and if anything does happen, they’ll call us.”

Billy sighs, but nods his head. He knows Steve’s right. Pushing himself off the couch, he heads into the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?”

“No no, I’m all right,” Steve calls out.

The bottom of the fridge had once been where they kept the beers and microwave meals. Now it’s been replaced with soft drinks and snack packs. Billy opts for a Coke, noting down on the whiteboard that they need to pick up more fruit when they’re at the store on Sunday.

He re-joins Steve in the lounge, taking his offer up when he raises his arm. Legs curled up, he rests his head on Steve’s chest, the rest of Labyrinth playing out.

“This reminds me, I found the cassette Max lost.”

“The Led Zeppelin one?”

Steve hums, stealing Billy’s can to take a sip. “It was in my car, behind the fishing gear.”

“Still working?”

“Still working,” Steve confirms.

They decide it’s time for them to head to their bedroom when the film ends. It used to be that they wouldn’t go to bed until the early hours of the morning, especially on a Friday. But a lot of things have changed over the course of just under a year.

They check on Max before actually going into their bedroom, leaving the lamp between their rooms on.

With the two of them in bed, Steve shuffles closer, smiling when Billy’s lips catch his in a kiss. “Still thinking about Monday?”

Billy shakes his head. “I’m trying to take your word for it.”

Steve gives him a chaste kiss. “Anything goes wrong, we’ll handle it.”

Billy searches for Steve’s hand under the covers, eyes shutting when he finds it. “Yeah, we will.”

It’s not convincing enough to banish the anxiety from Billy completely, but for tonight it’ll do. If anything does happen, they’ll see to it. The three of them stick together, just like any family does.

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr @ giraffewrites!


End file.
